Reprinted online here: www.tor.com/2022/11/23/the-difference-between-love-and-time-catherynne-m-valente/
The Difference Between Love and Time
4 stars
(Sorry for duplicated review. This one got ate by data loss, but I'm still trying to have some record of everything I read this year.)
A chaotic love story between the narrator and the embodiment of the space/time continuum itself. The space/time continuum exists across all past, present, future, potential, and parallel timelines and so the narrative itself is incredibly fractured. As the space/time continuum says, "That events do indeed occur sequentially is perhaps the greatest lie of all."
Despite the story emitting a background radiation of what feel like nonsense one-off riffs, the story brings all of these tiny details back together for a surprisingly satisfying conclusion.